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The Dark Horses of the Start-up Era (A Series): 2 - Spacetech
The Dark Horses of the Start-up Era (A Series): 2 - Spacetech

May 26, 2021

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The Dark Horses of the Start-up Era: A Series

2. Spacetech

Continuing with series of blogs on “The Dark Horses of the Start-up Era”, this time we are covering a very niche but eye-catching sector naming “Spacetech”. Though this sector doesn’t have any direct impact on our day-to-day life but from the country's perspective, it has huge potential and can put India on global charts.

Push Factors:

  • Global space sector market size $350 bn, India holds ~3% of that
  • Launch costs reduction
  • Rise in production of microsatellites, and can do the same job at much lower cost
  • As per DRDO, 7000 small satellites were expected by 2027, with a total value of $38 billion
  • Global small satellite market size expected to grow to $7.1 billion by 2025 from $ 2.8 billion in 2020 at a CAGR of 20.5%.
  • Sending satellites in the lower / medium orbit of earth could be a huge opportunity

 

Spacetech

 

Key Spacetech Start-ups:

  • Pixxel, Bellatrix Aerospace, Agnikul, Vesta Space, Grahaa Space, Dhruva Space, Manastu Space Technologies, Kawa Space, Parampara

Academic Institutes in Spacetech:

  • Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur; National Institute of Technology, Rourkela  and Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal and more

Why Indian Spacetech:

  • Indian space economy valuation $ 7bn
  • Indian start-up has potential to launch a rocket at 1/3rd of cost compared to US in similar segment
  • Low manufacturing cost in India
  • Technical talent pool availability

Key Investors:

  • Inflexor Ventures, StartupXceed, Blume Ventures, pi ventures, Next capital, growX, Lightspeed, Greenko Group founders, Techstars, Omnivore VC, Mayfield India, Speciale Invest, BEENEXT, LionRock Capital, Globevestor, Artha investor Fund.

Funding Deals:

(2020):

  • Pixxel raised $5 million seed funding
  • Agnikul raised ₹23.4 crore
  • Vesta Space Technology raised $10 million

(2021):

  • Skyroot raised $11 million Series A
  • Agnikul raised ₹11 million Series A
  • Pixxel raised $7.3 million

Challenges:

  • Long gestation period
  • Formation of space debris
  • overcrowding

Government Initiatives:

  • Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) created for developing the link between ISRO and private companies
  • SATCOM and remote sensing policy under revision
  • Formulated new navigation policy

Key Work in Progress:

  • Pixxel: developing the highest resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation
  • Grahaa Space: working on a cluster of earth-observation nanosatellites
  • Agnikul: Developing a 3D printed semi-cryogenic rocket engine called Agnilet

Look Forwards:

  • Pixxel to deploy 30 satellites by 2022 end
  • Agnikul to launch a rocket in 2022 which can take 100kgs payload to orbit around 700 kms high
  • Bellatrix Aerospace building in-space propulsion systems and orbital launch vehicles

Let it be Elon Musk’s SpaceX or India's successful space missions like Chandrayaan, Indian entrepreneurs have got enough motivation and fuel to take these Spacetech start-ups to newer heights. Even with certain challenges like a longer gestation period, investors still find great potential in this sector and will continue to support it in the future. “Spacetech” a billion-dollar sector in the making.

 

 


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